Customer Finds Dead Lizard in Snack Bag, Prompting Company to Offer Refunds

While enjoying a snack of salmon fish skin, one customer found a dead lizard in their snack bag, prompting the company to offer refunds and an apology to customers.

Irvin Gunawan, the founder of IRVINS Salted Egg, wrote on Facebook that the company was "shocked and devastated" to hear that a customer found a dead lizard in a snack pouch. Gunawan added that quality control was one of the most important aspects of the company and credited customers' safety with being "everything" to the organization.

Gunawan took responsibility for all goods that the company sold and offered an apology to anyone affected directly or indirectly by the incident. He also wrote that he reached out to the customer who found the lizard to ensure she and her family was alright.

"We promise to investigate this further as we don't have a full explanation on how the dead lizard ended up in our snack pouch and we promise to make the necessary changes in our production to ensure this will never happen again," Gunawan said.

The case was reported to the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) and the company said it will fully cooperate with an investigation. Customers who purchased a snack bag with the expiration date of October 16, 2019, or those who felt uncomfortable consuming the product were encouraged to contact the company to receive a refund.

"This is a major blow to us, however, we promise that we will fix this issue and continue to be an honest and responsible company to all of you," Gunawan concluded his message. "Rest assured that we are doing the best we could to serve our customers with the best quality [and] service nonetheless."

On Saturday, Jane Holloway posted on Facebook several pictures of the dead lizard that was found, which appeared to have been cooked and salted. She wrote that her brother and mom ate half the bag of the salted fish skin before they found the lizard in the bag. Newsweek reached out to Holloway but did not receive a response in time for publication.

"This gecko was probably deep friend with the salmon skin by the looks of it," she wrote.

Holloway, who lives in Bangkok, Thailand, told The Straits Times that her mother purchased the snack bag in November and her brother initially thought the lizard was a baby salmon head. She explained it was one of her favorite snacks and added that it was also an expensive snack.

IRVINS Salted Egg was started in 2008 as "Irvin's Seafood" in River Valley, Singapore, by selling salted egg crab. The company has since opened shops in Singapore, Hong Kong and the Philippines.